Backlash 2018
Backlash 2018 was a professional wrestling pay-per-view event run by the Ultimate Wrestling Federation. It took place on May 28, 2018. It was the first event under the Backlash name and featured talent from the Revolution brand. The event took place at Madison Square Garden in New York, New York. It is generally placed after WrestleMania on the pay-per-view calendar. Five matches were held on the event's card. The main event of the evening was for the UWF Championship, with champion Cesaro defeating Intercontinental Champion The Miz and Television Champion Vinny Marseglia in a Champion of Champions match. Other matches on the card included Jimmy Jacobs winning the Money In The Bank match against Seth Rollins, Marty Scurll, Bray Wyatt, Chris Jericho, and Bubba Ray Dudley, and Triple H defeating Daniel Bryan. With the champions competing in the main event against each other, number one contenders matches were held in place of title matches. Drew Gulak defeated Orange Cassidy to become sole holder of the Television Championship number one contendership. Minoru Suzuki, Roman Reigns, and The Brian Kendrick defeated Matt Hardy, Jay White, and Sin Cara to advance to a triple threat match for the Intercontinental Championship number one contendership, which was won by Reigns on the next episode of Revolution. Backlash Chronology Previous: Inaugural Next: Final Revolution Pay-per-view Chronology Previous: WrestleMania 2018 Next: King of the Ring 2018 UWF Pay-per-view Chronology Previous: WrestleMania 2018 Next: King of the Ring 2018 Storylines On the April 25th episode of Revolution, EC3 and the returning Maxine announced Cesaro would defend his newly-won UWF Championship against Intercontinental Champion The Miz and Television Champion Vinny Marseglia in a Champion of Champions match at Backlash. The next week when the trio of titleholders were in a 6-man tag team match, they lost due to Cesaro and Marseglia not intervening on The Miz's behalf. The next week, after Cesaro and Marseglia won a tag team match in the main event, The Miz attacked Cesaro, asserting his dominance over the two. On the go-home show, Marseglia attacked Cesaro after his victory over Roman Reigns. On the April 25th episode of Revolution, EC3 and Maxine announced a Money In The Bank match for Backlash. Initially announced for the match were Jimmy Jacobs, Chris Jericho, Sheamus, Seth Rollins, Marty Scurll, and a sixth competitor, who eventually turned out to be Bubba Ray Dudley. During the buildup to the match, Sheamus was attacked and replaced by Bray Wyatt. Sheamus left the company to treat his injuries, and has not returned since. In the weeks leading up to WrestleMania, teaser promos had been aired from Triple H about a "new recruit" to the company. On the April 25th episode of Revolution, he revealed that the "new recruit" was actually himself. Daniel Bryan rained on his parade, setting in motion a rekindling of their prior hatred for each other. On the May 2nd episode of Revolution, Bryan defeated HHH via pinfall, but he had his feet on the middle rope. The next week, Triple H confronted and attacked Bryan after his loss against The Miz. Maxine later announced their rematch at Backlash. In the aftermath of the Ultimate X match at WrestleMania, which ended in a tie between Drew Gulak and Orange Cassidy, it was decided that Gulak and Cassidy would face each other in a match to determine a true number one contender to the Television Championship at Backlash. On the May 9th episode of Revolution, Maxine announced that Sin Cara, Jay White, and Matt Hardy would face Roman Reigns, The Brian Kendrick, and Minoru Suzuki in a 6-man tag team match at Backlash, with the winners being placed in a triple threat match on the next episode of Revolution to determine a number one contender for the Intercontinental Championship. Event The show opened with Roman Reigns, Minoru Suzuki, and The Brian Kendrick taking on Sin Cara, Jay White, and Matt Hardy in a 6-man tag match. The match ended when miscommunication on the latter team caused Cara to be speared by Reigns for the pinfall victory. Reigns, Suzuki, and Kendrick went on to have a triple threat match for the number one contendership to the Intercontinental Championship. The second match was for a Television Championship match contract between Ultimate X winners Drew Gulak and Orange Cassidy. The match ended when Gulak applied the Gu-Lock onto Cassidy, forcing him to tap out and making Gulak the number one contender for the Television Championship. In the third match of the night, Triple H defeated Daniel Bryan in a grudge match and a rematch from a few weeks prior. The match ended after a spinebuster from Triple H to Bryan, followed by a pin with HHH's feet on the ropes, exactly how Bryan defeated HHH in their last match. The fourth match of the evening saw Jimmy Jacobs defeat Marty Scurll, Chris Jericho, Bray Wyatt, Seth Rollins, and Bubba ray Dudley to win the Money In The Bank briefcase. This marked the first time since the UWF's return that the Money In The Bank match occurred. The main event was for the UWF Championship. Cesaro defeated Intercontinental Champion The Miz and Television Champion Vinny Marseglia to retain his championship and claim the title of Champion of Champions. The match ended after a botched interference attempt from the Hired Gunns on The Miz's behalf leads to a Cesaro Neutralizer for the pinfall victory. Aftermath Shortly following Backlash, it was announced that the King of the Ring tournament was set to return. In the words of EC3, this meant a clean slate for all competitors, past grudges and favoritisms be damned. This tournament took place from June 6th to the King of the Ring pay-per-view on July 19th. there were 16 participants, 15 matches, and 4 rounds in total. One finalist of the tournament was Larry Sweeney, who had announced his return during the Backlash pay-per-view. He defeated Marty Scurll in the first round on June 6th, followed by Mr. Money In The Bank Jimmy Jacobs in the second round on June 22nd. After defeating Matt Hardy in the semifinals, Sweeney set himself up for the King of the Ring finals at the King of the Ring pay-per-view. The other finalist was Television Champion Vinny Marseglia, who defeated The Brian Kendrick and Triple H to reach the semifinals, where he defeated Seth Rollins to reach the King of the Ring finals. On the July 5th episode of Revolution, Marseglia successfully defended his title against Drew Gulak. On the June 6th episode of Revolution, Cesaro, having just won the Champion of Champions match, celebrated retaining his UWF Championship to close the show. However, Chris Jericho, who had been denied the opportunity into the King of the Ring tournament, attacked Cesaro, turning heel. On the July 5th episode of Revolution, Jericho caused a distraction which led to Cesaro losing to The Brian Kendrick in an upset. On the July 12th edition of Revolution, Jericho intentionally threw a tag team match while partnering with Cesaro, causing him to lose once again just before their title match at King of the Ring. At Backlash, Roman Reigns, along with The Brian Kendrick and Minoru Suzuki, won a 6-man tag team match. This led to them squaring off in a triple threat match on the June 6th episode of Revolution, with Reigns getting the victory and the number one contendership to the Intercontinental Championship. Champion The Miz was upset in the first round against Matt Hardy, officially setting up the match between Reigns and The Miz for the title at King of the Ring. On the June 15th episode of Revolution, Marty Scurll announced Villain Enterprises, a business venture he embarked on with associate Nigel McGuinness. Meanwhile, Daniel Bryan and Triple H were continuing their rivalry from Backlash, with HHH attacking Bryan before his match, causing him to lose in near record time. During their brawl, Bryan dropped a vending machine onto HHH, indirectly causing him to lose his match later on in the night. Following a match between HHH and Scurll, the two of them, plus Bryan, engaged in unsanctioned combat. This led to an announcement from Maxine that Scurll, HHH, and Bryan would compete in a triple threat street fight. On the June 6th episode of Revolution, Enzo Amore and The Undertaker made their debuts in a losing effort against other debuting superstars CM Punk and Rick Rude. The next week, a match between the two ended in a DQ victory for Undertaker after Amore delivered a low blow in the middle of their match. They teamed up again on July 5th, this time in a winning effort against Adam Cole and Velveteen Dream. After the match, Amore once again low-blowed Undertaker. Reception The event was very well-received by critics. The Swedish Ace simply stated "UWF continues to impress." Mattchewie said "Match of the night would probably go to MITB". YOLOisfox said "Each match was awesome in thier own way." Semiobsessive said "I loved all of the segments and it was a lovely lovely lovely show." Results Roman Reigns, Minoru Suzuki, and The Brian Kenrick defeated Sin Cara (w/Titus Worldwide), Jay White, and Matt Hardy via pinfall * 6-man tag team match Drew Gulak defeated Orange Cassidy via submission * Singles match for the number one contendership to the Television Championship Triple H defeated Daniel Bryan via pinfall * Singles match Jimmy Jacobs defeated Martt Scurll, Chris Jerichi, Seth Rollins, Bray Wyatt, and Bubba Ray Dudley * Money In The Bank match Cesaro © defeated The Miz (w/Hired Gunns) and Vinny Marseglia via pinfall * Champion of Champions match for the UWF Championship